Tennis | Prajnesh Gunneswaran confident about doing well on grass against Italy

01/25/2019

Prajnesh Gunneswaran has stated that he has been in a very good form recently and added that particularly on grass court he can be very handy against his Davis Cup opponents Italy in the coming week. Gunneswaran was recently ousted from his first Australian Open in the first round by Frances Tiafoe.

India will take on Italy on February 1 and 2 in Kolkata for the qualification event for the 18 Nation World Finals in Madrid next year. Wary about Italy’s prowess on the hard courts India chose to host the visitors on the grass court. Prajnesh Gunneswaran, who has been in a sublime form in recent months has come out and stated that he can do well in the upcoming grass court tournament.

"I'm good on grass. I beat (then world number 23) Denis Shapovalov recently. I should be able to do well here. I did well in four, five tournament at the end of last year. I consistently did well in four Challengers. Those were my best results. I think we will have a slight advantage. We just need to fight hard and close the gap," Prajnesh told PTI here.

Though hampered by injuries, Gunneswaran has been in a commanding form reaching the highest ranking of his career - 104. He also won two Challenger titles last year and beat the now World Number 27 Denis Shapovalov on Grass at Stuttgart Open.

"Here we will have a strong crowd support and we all will give our best to do well for the country making full use of the home conditions. The team atmosphere is just perfect and we have come here much in advance to get used to the surface. It's reflecting on my game," the world number 109 said.

Gunneswaran also revealed that his ultimate plan is to make it to the top 50 rankings in the world. But stated that first, he would like to reach the top 100 goal, that he has set for himself.

"My target is to be in top 50 but my (Immediate) goal is to get inside 100. If I get there I will revisit my goals. I want to continue at least five to six more years. Knees are in great shape at the moment."

He also said that despite injuries, he has changed nothing in his game and has kept working on improving his game. He stated that the results are proof of his better performance.

"There's nothing that has changed in my technique. I've just been improving all the time. I'm working really hard. And the results are showing."